- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
Heyyo,
The main reason mac's run much better is the OS. Windows is pretty slow compared to it, especially in games. DirectX is a pretty slow rendering path, probably the slowest for realtime rendering. OpenGL's much better but not as developped.. but OGL 2.0 should be a nice leap. :)
One thing I love aboot the MacOS is it's based off FreeBSD, one of the best OS's ever made. Soo powerful, soo effective.. oh so nice. Mac's are living proof of how good this OS is. Once I get better at linux? heck, I might go as far as to say I'll venture into the world of FreeBSD, n' try to setup a good OS environment, n' hope I don't kill myself in the process. :p
You see folks, most of us have grown up on windows, so the idea of a diff OS seems stupid since this one's fine. True, it is fine, but not the best IMO. The main reason why people prefer windows OS's is cause they're extremely popular. Many companies either tend to work towards, or base their business on Windows programs. Wether, games, or not.
This now brings me more offtopic: xbox. you see, xbox doesn't use a huge os, just one focused purely on gaming. If I remember correctly, it doesn't even use DirectX. So yeah, xbox doesn't suffer from the slow rendering paths of DirectX, which's one of the main reasons most games built for xbox runs better than the pc equivalent version, Halo being one example.
If ya want proof of how slow directx is? do benchmarks. UT does both directx and ogl. even better, go to http://www.tomshardware.com and look for ut2k4 comparison of preformance between Linux and Windows. Linux almost always pulled ahead of windows by a whole 10F/S. Interesting how a free OS pwns one that costs ya over $100 CDN eh? ;)
Anywho, back ontopic... finally, lol.
So I believe that yes, since you're gonna try a mac, it should be fine. That vidcard's not the best in the world, I suggest upgrading. a 9600 PRO or higher would totally pwn with halo onna mac. I know there's mac versions made of pretty much all ATI cards, so save up some cash, and get one (if you can aim for a 9800 PRO) and you'll be darn glad you did. =D